THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY AND THE NATIONAL CABLE TELEVISION COOPERATIVE ANNOUNCE FIRST EVER RETRANSMISSION CONSENT AGREEMENT FOR ABC-OWNED BROADCAST STATIONS
LENEXA, KS and BURBANK, CA -- DECEMBER 22, 2014 -- The National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) today announced their first ever long-term retransmission consent agreement for ABC's eight owned local stations, including WABC-TV in New York City, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WLS-TV in Chicago, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, KGO-TV in San Francisco, WTVD-TV in Raleigh-Durham, KTRK-TV in Houston and KFSN in Fresno. Additionally, NCTC members in ABC-owned markets will continue to have the ability to provide the authenticated WATCH ABC live streaming service to their customers.
The retransmission consent agreement comes on the heels of a comprehensive long-term distribution agreement completed in August between The Walt Disney Company and NCTC to deliver Disney's robust lineup of top quality sports, news and entertainment content to participating NCTC members' customers across TVs, computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles and connected devices. The NCTC represents nearly 950 member companies across the United States.
Judy Meyka, NCTC Executive Vice President of Programming, said, "We are pleased to have reached, for the first time, a retransmission consent agreement with the Walt Disney Company that supports our Members' efforts to competitively offer their customers the ABC owned broadcast station programming in these critical television markets."
"We are pleased for the first time ever to work with NCTC to expand our long relationship to now include an agreement for retransmission consent for the eight ABC-owned broadcast stations," said David Preschlack, executive vice president, Affiliate Sales and Marketing, Disney & ESPN Networks. "NCTC and its members clearly value the important role our highly-rated ABC stations play in their local communities, and we look forward to providing compelling and meaningful content for their customers."
As part of the earlier deal, the NCTC was able to offer new services including the full suite of authenticated WATCH and video-on-demand products as well as Fusion, the SEC Network, the Longhorn Network, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater and ESPN Bases Loaded. Additionally, networks that continued to be covered by the broad scope of the earlier agreement included ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic and ESPN3.
About the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC)
The National Cable Television Cooperative, Inc. (NCTC) is a Kansas not-for-profit corporation that operates as a programming and hardware purchasing organization for its member companies who own and operate cable systems throughout the U.S. and its territories. NCTC seeks to maximize current and future opportunities to ensure the profitability, competitive stature and long term sustainability of its member companies.
About The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had annual revenues of $48.8 billion in its Fiscal Year 2014.
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